Fugitive caught after lockdown in Ontario

Photo Gallery: Fugitive arrested ONTARIO -- An intensive search for a reportedly armed fugitive Sunday afternoon led to the lockdown of Chaffey High School during the matinee performance of "The Wizard of Oz" as well as a large area in the vicinity of Harvard Place and Columbia Street.

Sijifredo Garcia, 24, of El Monte, shirtless and covered in tattoos on both his body and neck, was taken into custody around 5:30 p.m. on Harvard between Columbia and Euclid Avenue after he reportedly brandished a firearm at bail recovery agents trying to take Garcia into custody for an outstanding warrant, according to Ontario Police officials.

Garcia was arrested on suspicion of being a felon in possession of a firearm, brandishing a firearm and for the warrant and special enhancements due to his gang affiliation, according to a news release.

"That's a lot of excitement for our little street," said Rick Caughman, who was told to stay inside his Princeton Place home for more than two hours as police methodically searched homes from Princeton Street to Harvard for the wanted man.

Around 2:30 p.m., the bail agents contacted officers who told authorities they tried to take Garcia into custody near Euclid Avenue and Fourth Street but the men soon became involved in a foot chase.

During the pursuit, the agents reports Garcia turned and brandished a firearm he allegedly pulled from his waistband, police said.

The bail agents told police Garcia reportedly ran off still armed into the Chaffey High School campus where a production of "The Wizard of Oz" was underway.

The school was placed on lock down and as police were setting up a perimeter, he ran from the school and toward Princeton and Columbia streets east of Euclid Avenue.

Ontario police locked down a perimeter from 4th Street and Columbia Avenue, to Euclid Avenue and 5th Street as the manhunt was under way.

A team of officers with a K-9 found Garcia reportedly hiding in the rear yard of a home on Harvard Place and was taken into custody.

Garcia sustained obvious injuries and was bleeding from the head when he was brought out of the back yard in handcuffs.

He was transported to an undisclosed hospital but it wasn't clear how he obtained those injuries.

The performance at Chaffey High was stopped momentarily while police announced that they were also locking down the auditorium where the matinee was being held, but the director Dave Masterson decided the performance should continue.

One of the attendees inside the theater said via texts that she was very impressed with how Masterson, and the school staff, handled the situation and how they managed to keep everyone calm.

Caughman's daughter, Emily Caughman, a sophomore at Chaffey, texted her father when the announcement was made at the school and assured him she was safe.

"I told her, so are we because all the cops are in front of the house," Rick Caughman laughed well after the wanted man was transported to an undisclosed hospital with a head injury. It was unclear how he obtained that injury.

For more than two hours, residents who lived within the perimeter were not allowed out of their homes and no one was allowed in. A San Bernardino County sheriff's helicopter could be heard circling over the Ontario neighborhood and notifying residents over a public address system to stay inside their homes.

Raul Delgadillo, who lives on Princeton Street, had gone out to do some shopping late Sunday morning and when he returned home he found about a dozen police units and more than two dozen officers in his neighborhood.

"I saw them start to go in and they had a lot of firepower with them," Delgadillo said referring to the rifles and other firearms the officers were carrying as they searched the area for the man.

Soon after Garcia was taken into custody, several family members, including a woman who identified herself as his cousin, tried to run through the perimeter to reach the man, upset at his injuries.

"This is a really quiet neighborhood and you don't really hear about things like this happening," said Delgadillo. "Everyone knows their neighbors and they all talk to each other and watch out for each other."

The incident is still under investigation. Anyone with information on the case is asked to contact the Ontario Police Department at 909-395-2001.